


What if I told you he was always alone

by Sophie_Vers



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Damian Wayne is a Brat, Damian Wayne is a Little Shit, Detective Tim Drake, Family Dynamics, Gen, Jason Todd Angst, Jason Todd Has Issues, Kid Tim Drake, One Shot, Revelations, Tim Drake Angst, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, Tim Drake-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24753322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophie_Vers/pseuds/Sophie_Vers
Summary: secondlandia on Tumblr asked:How about a one shot with the batkids where they find out Jason doesn’t actually know Tims origins story, so everyone (its mostly Dick) excitingly retells it. (ensures some heart attacks & questioning Tims sanity)So that's almost exactly what the story is, only with a spark of Jason Todd angst and awkward family meetings.
Relationships: Tim Drake & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson, Tim Drake & Jason Todd
Comments: 23
Kudos: 687





	What if I told you he was always alone

**Author's Note:**

> As always, my amazing beta [tinn tammm](https://tinn-tammm.tumblr.com/) who is an amazing person did an amazing job.

“Jay! Jaybird! Little Wing! Happy birthday!” Jason was greeted by an earfull of Dick the moment he opened the doors to his apartment, because of course the Golden Boy hadn’t listened to Jason’s literal pleas about ignoring August 16 for once. He’d be naive to actually believe he has any saying in the matter of celebrating his own fucking birthday.

What he wasn’t ready for in the slightest though was the sight of Bruce and the Demon Brat casually seated at his couch. His small budget couch which looked ridiculous with just Jason on it, as said by Roy. It was utterly hilarious with the biggest and smallest Wayne cramped together, both with identical displeased expressions.

”Tim wanted me to let you know he’s sorry he couldn’t make it,” Dick continued “but he took all Bruce’s appointments for today, so B could come!” He exclaimed as if it was a good thing. As if having Bruce in any proximity to him didn’t make Jason’s blood boil with hatred he knew wasn’t all justified but still was too weak to fight off completely.

As if Tim’s weirdly familiar presence wouldn’t be shit tons better from whatever the man who once a long time ago might have meant everything to Jason brought.

“That’s- a very Tim thing to do,” he finally agreed, slowly trying to shake himself off from the state the older man seemed to always put him in. “An' besides, when did I say I wanted any of you to come in the first place-”  
  
“Yes, that’s our Tim,” Dick grinned fondly completely ignoring what he didn’t want to hear “he gave me your present though, so you can still open it today! Isn’t that great?” The man thrust something at him. It was a delicate looking rectangular shaped piece of wrapping paper that couldn’t have anything other than another piece of paper inside given how light it was. “I think you should start with this one, I already know it’s gotta be good and I wanna see it too!”

Jason hadn’t been even given a chance to take off his boots before the attack started. Now all he wanted was to turn back, go through the doors that felt more like prison bars at the moment, burn this place down and never stop running again. “How so?” he asked instead because at this point he knew that Dick would just hunt him down and make all of this even worse..  
  
“Can’t you already tell what it is? It’s pretty obvious” Dick said incredulously, tilting his head.

“’Pretty obvious’ does not do this so called present justice. It is greatly evident, Grayson. Do not try to belittle one of Drake’s many inabilities that is wrapping presents.” And there he was, Jason wondered when the Baby Demon would start seething.

“Don’t say it like that, Dami. It’s the thought that matters!” Dick was fast to reassure. “The present doesn’t actually have to be a secret until it's opened.”  
  
“I still have no idea how that’s supposed ta be obvious.” Jason interjected before the youngest boy could answer because he really didn’t want to hear much more of that breaking voice right now. Apparently ungodly creatures went through puberty as well, someone should research this phenomena.  
  
The three guests looked at him weirdly which made Jason realize Alfred wasn’t here yet meaning there’s a big chance a cake would be making its appearance later on, and _fuck_. Something good could come out from this day after all. “Okay now yer actin’ weird, Imma open it ‘couse yer creapin’ me out.”

Jason made sure to unravel the thing without ripping its contents, which wasn’t the easiest task given his callused hands and soon enough he was met with what seemed to be a photograph. Of him. As Robin. Posing with a puffed chest like he used to do with no reason other than to boost his own ego. With Batman near behind looking softer than Jason ever remembers seeing him.

“Okay… that’s- I don’t know how I feel about this,” he admitted. “Didn’t know there was such a sharp picture of us in the costumes, is this- It must be from a newspaper, right? Ya let this photo of us be taken, B? How very unprofessional of ya,” he scoffed mockingly waving the photo because he couldn’t possibly stand looking at it any longer.

When no one answered to his bait though Jason got concerned and looked around only to find everyone looking at him with confused expressions.  
  
“No Jay it’s- Tim did this,” Dick said as if it was any explanation, his brows deeply furrowed.  
  
“What, like, photoshopped it or some shit?” Jason guessed.  
  
“No, he took the photo,” which made even less sense.  
  
“Whatcha playin’ at?, Replacement must’ve been still shittin’ his diapers when I was runnin’ the streets in tight latex pants.” Which he should probably mind more than he actually does, but well, it’s not like he was ever normal in the first place.  
  
“We’re not talking about the p a n t s.” Dick shuddered. “And you do know that Tim is only two years younger than you, right? Wait that’s not the point! He obviously took these photos!” He exclaimed waving his hands.  
  
“I cannot comprehend this.” Damian interjected again. “Father, we must take our leave shortly before Todd’s stupidity becomes contagious.”  
  
“Damian, these kinds of comments are unnecessary. Jason,” Bruce addressed him and Jason didn’t tighten his hands into fists which was a fucking accomplishment if he’s ever seen one “weren’t you informed of Tim’s childhood by Talia?”  
  
“No, not really” he answered truthfully because obviously there was something big he was missing and he needed to find out what. “She just showed me a photo of him in costume, that was enough to rile me up, so even if she did I wouldn’t remember it.” He shrugged. It was old news, pit madness didn’t affect him anymore, not as much as it used to at least. It doesn’t cloud his judgment now and there was nothing he could have done about it at the time either.

Maybe if he repeats that enough times he’ll actually start believing it.

“So you really don’t know Tim’s origin story...” Dick’s eyes practically shone with excitement which couldn’t mean anything good. Jason could feel chills making their way up his back.

“Why ya callin’ his childhood an origin story?” Jason asked against his better judgment.  
  
“Because it’s epic! It deserves to be called an origin story!” the older man exclaimed.  
  
“I wouldn’t call havin’ yer parents killed as anythin’ related to epic... unless they were shit parents,” he added as a second thought. “What? That’s how all Robins not-actual-blood-sons-of-Batman start, right?” he defended himself when the silence stretched again. ”Parents die, a boy has nowhere to go, good guy Brucie offers home in exchange for soul, body and all of the kid’s future.”

Bruce visibly grimaced “That’s not what being Robin means.”  
  
“Isn’t it?” Jason couldn’t stop himself from challenging. It was exactly what it meant to him. He sacrificed his whole being, his past, present and future to Robin.

He sacrificed his life.  
  
“Tt. You should not have a say in this matter, Todd. As you are, surpassed only by Drake the lest worthy of that title.” Damian apparently thought someone needed his opinion and decided to share it. The brat.  
  
“You.” Jason said, making sure his voice was low and threatening. “You are a disgrace to Robin’s orphan heritage.”

“Okay guys, we don’t want to start another argument when there’s so much Jay needs to learn!” Dick stepped in between the pair. “Have a sit, Jay, it’s probably going to take a while.”  
  
Jason didn’t even mention how ridiculous Dick was being by inviting him to have a sit in his own apartment, he just took off his boots and choose a chair that stood furthest away from the couch that made it easy for him to see all of his guests without moving his head an inch even as Dick sat on a chair opposite to his.

“So, let me start from the beginning. Or actually from the end, because after you were- gone,” he chocked off. However many times it was talked about it still felt surreal to say, Jason knew, it was the same for him after all. He’s accepted that. Mostly. “I’ve been doing my best staying in Bludhaven and not talking to Bruce when one day, completely out of blue a 13 year old Tim comes knocking at my door saying he knows everything.”

Jason had to huff at that, he couldn’t help it. “That’s like tha oldest trick in the book.”

“It isn’t when it’s followed by ‘I know Bruce Wayne is Batman and you’re Nightwing’.” At Jason’s stunned silence Dick continued “He told me our whole life stories basically, how I used to be Robin, why B became Batman, where you came from. When I let him in Tim took out hundreds of photographs of Batman and Robin, the oldest ones reached my Robin times.”

“Ya tryin’ ta tell me Timmy’s been takin’ photos of Batman for years without him noticin'?” Jason turned to look at Bruce who was- embarrassed, for the lack of better word, he didn’t want to meet his eyes. “Was he actually raised by ninjas or some shit?” he asked turning back to Dick who laughed a little sadly.

“No, just in a big empty house he was scared to make any noise in.” He stopped for a while his eyes going distant before he sighed and continued. “Anyway, that part is not my story to tell. It turned out that as a kid Tim has been trailing after us often, sneaking out of Drakes’ place whenever he could which wasn’t really hard at all since he could literally use the front door,” Dick scowled. ”But yeah, he figured out our identities along the way.”  
  
“Okay that’s enough” Jason scoffed. ”We all agree Timbo’s smart but that’s just ridiculous. Even if I’m willin’ ta believe he somehow slid under B’s radar, ya can’t possibly do somethin’ like that for years and never get noticed by the street folks. They don’t do well with people sneakin’ around.”  
  
“I never said he didn’t get in trouble,” Dick pointed out. “In fact I’m pretty sure he’d been involved in dangerous situations a lot more than he ever let us know. The camera he’s been using was expensive and hard to hide so while he matched his whole attire to poor street folks perfectly, he wasn’t always able to hide the camera fast enough to avoid trouble.”  
  
Jason swept his eyes over to Bruce hoping the older man would put a stop to Dick’s nonsense, because there was no way little Timmy didn’t get killed the first time he went out.

The man must’ve noticed his discomfort, because his fucking brow twitched and that was enough for Jason know it was all true.  
  
“Well, he was our biggest fanboy to put it simply,” Dick finished after a while, probably uncomfortable with the long silence.

“Now that’s embarrassing,” said Jason because turning it into mockery was easier than unraveling all the shit hidden behind ‘As a kid Tim had been spending his free time on the streets because there was no one to stop him from going out playing paparazzi for Batman all night long’ and ‘Tim lived in a big empty house he was scared to make any noise in’. The worst part though was that Jason didn’t have a problem associating Tim with that, how much these short lines explained Tim’s present self.

“I call that impressive,” Bruce intervened taking all the attention to himself. _Such a shame Timmy’s not here to hear the praise,_ Jason thought to himself. “He was leading double life basically. Reckless, but undeniably impressive.”

Even the Demon Brat didn’t make a sound at Bruce’s prise. It looked like the kid was able of actually acknowledging someones accomplishments despite hating them. At least that’s how Jason interpreted Damian’s harsh behavior towards his older brother. Knowing al Ghuls though, which he unfortunately did, it was probably some shit like ‘I see you’re good so I have big expectations of you’ or just old plain ‘you pose danger to me, I’ll attack first to assert dominance’. Which really didn’t matter since both cases showed that the Demon Brat thought Tim wasn’t actually as useless as he wanted him to believe.

“Impressive is a good word,” Dick agreed, “some of these photos had fight scenes in them and from close up as well.”  
  
“Now that’s just plain stupid,” Jason argued, imagining a few year old Timmy in any proximity to the villains they fought. Shit, the kid was scrawny now, Jason can’t even imagine how little he must’ve been when he was actually, well, even littler.  
  
“It was!” Dick laughed and for some reason Jason couldn’t comprehend the older man wasn’t terrified by this like he should be. Like Jason is. “But listen, it’s not the end of the story yet! Why do you think Tim came all the way to Bludhaven to me instead of going straight to Batman who lived in Gotham and incidentally right next to the Drakes as well?”  
  
“Dunno, he was scared of the big Bat probably, thought you’d be easier to persuade to give him Robin?” he guessed.  
  
“Bzzz,” Dick mimicked a wrong buzzer sound. “Tim never wanted to be Robin in the first place!”  
  
“What?” At this point Jason knew he was going to have some long lasting consequences from how confused he’s been for the last hour or so.  
  
“Tim came to ask _me_ to be Robin again, said he can see how devastated Batman is from the loss, how he’s probably going to cross the line soon and desperately needs a Robin to anchor him from succumbing to the darkness completely.”  
  
“In these exact words?” Jason asked uncomfortably glancing at Bruce. Was he really devastated by his loss? It never crossed Jason’s mind. Upset? Sure, having your sidekick killed must’ve beet a big hit to his ego, but devastated? That’s not something he’d associate with Batman

“Probably not.” Dick shrugged grinning and Jason just decided to drop it. He didn’t need another existential crisis in his near future. Knowing his life, it’ll come back to bite him in the ass either way, but that won’t stop him from running.

“But he became Robin anyway?” he inquired instead.  
  
“Yeah, I refused to go back. I’ve left Robin behind, I couldn’t do that again but I understood where he was coming from.Besides he already proved to have the skills so I suggested he take the role instead.” Dick turned around to send a look at Bruce ”B caved in after weeks of nagging and ta da! The third Robin came to life!”

Jason took his time digesting all that new information. It really should change his view on Tim, but weirdly that wasn’t the case. He was shocked at first, sure, he assumed that Timmy started similarly to him and Dick, and now knowing that he didn’t should make a difference to him, but… Tim’s story, his origin as Dick called it was oddly fitting. It was more like the last puzzle piece to figuring out the creature which was Tim Drake.

Quick-witted and good mannered in public but surprisingly awkward at closer look. At first Jason was always impressed by how well he managed with big crowds at parties, how well he handled the board of people 4 times his age with superiority complex bigger than their bank accounts.

But then you’d meet him at his apartment and see him wearing clothes that would easily fit 3 Tims inside, with mismatches socks or even better with one missing. And then you see it dangling from a ceiling lamp, tell Tim about it and both of you spend the next ten minutes staring at it in unison with Tim being just as confused as Jason before Tim finally sighs murmuring ‘one day I’ll find out how they get up there’ and proceeds to explain chemical formulas of the substance he found on a crime scene last time he got out of house.  
  
You hear stories from people mesmerized by Tim’s genius, then you go see him yourself and find him upside down on a couch, balancing a full cup of coffee on his foot with a Rubik’s cube in one hand and Batman’s 5 year old unsolved case in the other, because the idiot believes that not working 27 out of 24 hours a day could literally kill him but also wants to have fun and that’s the only way he knows how to have them both.

Thinking about it, there was a big possibility he turned out so eccentric due to the fact that he had no fucking adult supervision and Jason probably won’t be too quick to assume that Tim practically raised himself in the best way he knew possible, which was not at all.

“So when he started his parents-” he started.

“Were alive, yes.” Dick nodded.

“Didn’t make a big difference, did it?” Jason asked lowering his eyes in thought.

“Depends on how you look at it” this time it was Bruce who answered. “The lack of their attention in his youngest years did form Tim’s personality differently than their deaths would. And with Robin- he didn’t have a personal agenda, the one reason to always keep fighting like vigilantes normally do. No life-changing experience, no deep bone hatred for the criminals, no need for revenge.

"Tim never fought for himself, it was never a need. With Tim it was always a choice.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry only Batdad, Dick and Damian were featured but I'm physically incapable of managing a scenes with more people, trust me it would be chaos.
> 
> Visit me on [Tumblr](https://sophie-vers.tumblr.com/), I'm taking all and any prompts and asks and welcome dm's... yes I crave human contact. Please.
> 
> Also comment here, I love it


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